Dragon 7 Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Nyske was in my hoard. Apparently, a number of my wives were gathered there for some reason. I bet they were talking with Yev. Hopefully, everything was okay.

I didn’t make it to Nyske before the manor shook to the beat of someone’s steps. And there was only one person who would make that type of entrance.

My mother.

Ducking around a corner, I peeked around it carefully, seeing if she was nearby. The coast looked clear, so I darted around it. I just needed to make it to my hoard to meet up with Nyske and Yev.

“Why are we hiding?” a nymph asked with a little giggle, peering around me. She was a cute little wild nymph with dark blue hair that washed in waves over her shoulder.

I turned, realizing I could use her. “Can you go ahead of me? If you see Tiamat, call out to her.”

“But she’s your mother.” The nymph frowned.

“Precisely.” I stared back at the nymph. “Oh don’t give me that look. You try having Tia as a mother. It’s impossible to predict her current mood.”

“But the girls called her here.” The nymph frowned, clearly confused.

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

The nymph covered her mouth and suddenly mimed zipping her lips.

I glared at the nymph and then realized she was wearing one of my gold coins around her neck. “What’s that?”

The nymph bolted, and I’d lost my decoy.

Oh well, she seemed like she wouldn’t have worked anyway.

The thumping continued, and I focused. I needed to get to my hoard. The situation was dire enough that I drew on my wild fae magic and opened a portal, stepping through it into my bedroom and opening the door to my hoard.

I let out a deep breath, feeling pretty pleased with myself as I turned to look at my hoard.

Then my heart dropped, and my dragon instincts picked up to one hundred and ten percent. “MINE!”

My wives were shoveling my gold into wheelbarrows.

“No! My gold!” I jumped forward, rushing to stop them.

“Husband!” Jadelyn put her arms out to block my path. “This is the investment you agreed to. Where’s Tia?”

I grabbed Jadelyn and lifted her to the side easily, glaring down at my other wives who were still shoveling like a giant angry dragon was of no concern.

“My gold. You can’t take it.” I scrambled through the hoard to stop them before Poly caught me in a flying tackle and brought us both down onto the coins. We slid a dozen feet, spraying coins to either side.

“My king, I’m terribly sorry.” Poly wrestled me as I fought her.

“My gold! You can’t take my gold!” It ached like someone was ripping my heart out. “I didn’t think you were taking it so soon. No! I need more time with it.”

Even getting stabbed repeatedly by Dragonbane was nothing compared to watching my hoard get raided by these… these thieves.I roared and tried to throw Poly off. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she needed to stop preventing me from getting to my gold.

She twisted, putting me in an arm bar and straining it. But I smiled. My dragon strength was bigger. I drew on it to outmaneuver her.

“I need help,” Poly shouted.

Morgana blurred over, and I knew my time was dwindling. She knew all of my weaknesses.

Popping open a portal under me, I fell through it with Poly. The sudden loss of ground allowed me to twist and shift my arm to wrench it free from the Amazonian fighter as I landed and rushed towards the nymphs with the wheelbarrows.

“Now he uses magic!” Jadelyn threw her hands up in the air.

My coins rattled as thunderous steps drew closer. I paused as my mother rounded the corner of the hallway they were using to abscond with all of my gold.

“Mother.” I eyed her warily. Now I understood why my wives had called her.

Tia looked the same as all of her reincarnations. She was short with a mane of red hair that seemed larger than her. But the female dragon god wasn’t to be trifled with. She was incredibly strong, and always unpredictable.

“Son.” She paused for a second before a wild and deliriously happy grin split her face. “Your home is multidimensional! I can visit whenever I want!”

My smile fell as I cursed.

“We should still be—” I tried.

Tia closed the distance in several large bounds that shook my hoard before she wrapped me up in a hug that felt like I’d just been caught by some sort of heavy construction equipment.

“And I heard the news of whelps! Grand whelps!” She squeezed me hard enough that my bones felt like they were about to snap.

Poly was getting up and wiping her brow from behind me as she smiled from behind Tia. And then I remembered what was happening.

“Mother, they are stealing my gold,” I groaned. “We need to stop them.” I tried to enlist her help. I’d teach them to weaponize my mother against me.

I waited as Tia glanced around the room, wondering if she’d join me.

But then Yev waved at Tia, carrying her egg and rubbing it. She gave Tia the sweetest smile I’d ever seen. “Mother-in-law. Look, I have your first grand egg right here.”

Tia inhaled deeply, and I saw the moment she forgot what I had said. Instead, her entire focus was on the egg. She dropped the hug, but kept an iron grip on my shoulder. “My first grand egg,” Tia’s voice wavered.

“Yes, What color do you think it’ll be?” Yev put it down next to her gingerly.

Tia crouched low and, with a delicate hand, reached out before checking with Yev. Once she got a nod, she ran her hand down the egg.

“My first grand egg,” she squealed then looked up at Yev, catching my wife and bringing her in before she wrapped both of us in a hug.

“I LOVE YOU BOTH.” She crushed us and shook us both around like a pair of rag dolls.

Glaring at Yev, I frowned as if to say, ‘look what you’ve done now.’

She only smiled at me as if everything was going according to plan.

“Alright, girls, hurry up. Morgana, we can get you some blood after, but we needed to be done a minute ago,” Jadelyn coordinated the others once more.

I struggled in my mother’s hug, but there was no escaping the ancient dragon god.

“Stop wiggling,” Tia scolded. “Your first egg is right here and you are trying to escape like your father.”

“Morgana and Kelly are pregnant too. Maybe a few of the nymphs will test positive in the coming weeks.” Jadelyn walked up behind Tia and added fuel to the fire.

Tia dropped Yev and lifted me up from under my armpits. “My son! This is the best present ever. So many grand whelps. I’m going to have to visit more often.”

This was not going in the direction I wanted.

“Mother, put me down,” I demanded.

She did so, but kept a hand on my shoulder. “The cute one explained to me what they are doing. Some of your gold is going to enter a magical system that multiplies it every ten or so years. I wish I had such magic with my hoard. Unfortunately, it just sits in a giant secret cave on Dragon Conclave island.” She let out a wistful sigh. “I can’t wait to go play in my gold. It has been a while.”

I froze, and I noticed a few of my wives did as well.

Suddenly, I had a thought. “Jadelyn, so this gold will multiply? How quickly?”

One glance and I knew we were on the same wavelength. “It’ll double in ten years. But this is only half to double your entire holdings, so it’ll take at least twenty years. At this volume, things could be difficult to…”

I nodded. I had to keep my mother off that island for twenty years, maybe thirty if I could swing it. No emergency conclaves allowed. Either that or I’d need to sneak in and replace my mother’s gold before she realized I had stolen it all.

I nodded subtly at Jadelyn and turned away from the sight of my gold being stolen. My poor little dragon heart couldn’t take it.

“Come on, mother, let’s go have something to eat. The nymphs are wonderful cooks. And then we can introduce you to Kelly and Morgana.” I took a deep breath and led the way as I hid tears shed for my gold. “Oh, Jadelyn, get Nyske for me? I came here to get her for the crystal. She and I need to have an overdue conversation.”

“Can do.” She smiled at me and hopped over to leave a peck on my cheek. “Thank you for trusting us with your gold. I think that shows just how much you love us.”

I nodded, my throat feeling tight again at the conversation of gold and charged out. My mother followed close behind.

“So, the wolf is pregnant? They make good mothers. Your father favored them from time to time. There was a point…” She trailed off squinting. “Rome I think it was called. City founded by werewolves. Your father loved to go play there. They were very good fighters by the end.”

I paused. She was filled with so many strange facts. “Do you know much about the titans, mom? Or maybe about how these other planes formed?”

She blinked but followed along with me into the kitchen. Her head was on a swivel taking everything in. “Well, your father is more studious than me. But once upon a time, long long ago, there were primordial beings born from concentrations of mana much like elementals. Well, you could call them the first elementals. This was supposedly in early stages of the world, before there was any biological life.

“These beings helped shape the world. As humans do, they’ve been personified and suggested they had lots of sex. I don’t really think they had sex,” Tia went off topic. “I mean, do they even have dicks and vaginas, much less reproductive organs?”

“Mother. You are drifting off topic.” I motioned to a nymph in the kitchen to start some food and keep it coming.

“Right. Right. So they fucked or didn’t fuck and made things. They fought, tried to make a big prison for each other. Some fled, others stayed. These other planes were largely made from their bodies and attempts to survive. Living things started to crawl around underfoot and they started to lose mana to them.” Tia watched as the nymph started cooking and sniffed the air before she started to drool. “What is that smell?”

Her focus was intense enough that I knew she wasn’t going to get back on topic.

I sniffed the air. “Spices.”

I realized she had missed a lot of modern cuisine. I stood up and went to the fridge and pulled out a can of whipped cream. It seemed the nymphs always had it on hand. “Here. Try whipped cream. Open your mouth.”

Tia opened her mouth but watched me carefully. I sprayed whipped cream into her mouth without hesitation.

She closed her mouth and moved it around before she smiled and opened her mouth again. “More.”

I handed her the can of whipped cream. She sprayed it into her mouth gleefully, her jaw cracking as it shifted larger.

“No!” I tried to stop her but she threw the whole can in her mouth and crunched down on it.

The can exploded, whipped cream spilled out of her lips and nose.

The nymph cooking paused and covered her mouth trying to stop the laughter from spilling out, but she failed. She leaned against the fridge, sliding down it as she continued to try to suppress her laughter.

“Mother.” I frowned at her.

A too long tongue came out to catch the extra whipped cream as she swallowed. “That was delicious.” She glanced over at the nymph. “I wish to experience more of your food. Also, prepare a large quantity of this whipped cream.” She paused. “On second thought, just keep lots on hand. I’ll come by often.”

I put my head in my hands and shook it as the nymph gave up and started howling in laughter.

Tia didn’t care and jumped out of her seat to inspect the fridge. “It’s cold inside,” she observed.

“Mom. Don’t,” I tried to stop her as she picked up a jar of pickles.

“Hey.” Nyske appeared around the other side of the fridge door and snatched the pickles. “Don’t eat my pickles. The juice is the best part.”

Tia sniffed at Nyske and then let out a low growl that made the contents of the fridge rattle. “You—” My mother was enraged, and the mystery around Nyske deepened.

“Mother, if you touch a hair on her head we are going to have issues. You won’t be allowed in this manor to see any of your grandchildren if you harm someone under my protection,” I warned her.

“But—”

“No buts. Do not touch her or anyone else.” I set my jaw and crossed my arms. “Even if she does drink pickle juice.”

I would have been more weirded out, but I had had a girlfriend freshman year that liked to drink it too.I shuddered. So weird.

“Fine. What else is off limits?” My mother glared at the fridge.

Nyske stepped up and pulled out some cheese. “Try this. Oh, and this.” She grabbed a dill dip.

Before she could grab something to go with the dip, my mother opened the container and scooped out a big handful, stuffing it in her mouth. “There is so much flavor,” my mother mumbled through all the dip in her mouth.

Nyske sighed. “You dip vegetables in it to make them palatable.” She handed my mother a bag of carrots.

Tia shifted her jaws again and threw the whole bag into her mouth. “I understand,” she said around a mouthful. “Yes, I understand.”

The nymph was still losing her shit on the floor as she watched the entire exchange.

Nyske shrugged. “It’s hard to adjust to this world when you come from the fae Wilds.” She came around to the table, holding onto her pickles.

“You seem well adjusted,” I commented.

That made Nyske pause. “Yeah. We’ll get to that. I assume you want to use the crystal now?”

“It’s overdue at this point.” I glared at her.

Nyske refused to shrink away. “After your mother is done… exploring.”

“Tia, sit down. Let the nymph prepare something,” I sighed.

Tia turned from the fridge and narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t move. “Don’t call me Tia. Call me mom or mother.”

“Mom, come sit. Please,” I repeated.

She bounced over as happy as could be.

I looked over at the nymph. There were streaks of tears down her cheeks. “You going to be okay? Do I need to call Pixie to make food?”

She shook her head and wiped at her face. “No need. I can handle this.” She kept grinning like there was another laugh just at the edge of her lips.

I noticed she too was wearing one of my coins. “Are all the nymphs wearing my coins?”

“Yes. We wanted to be marked as yours.” She smiled and got up from the floor, focusing back on preparing some food. “Let me make you a chicken salad sandwich. You’ll love them.”

Tia frowned. “Sand does not go well with chicken. I prefer not to hunt food on beaches.”

I opened my mouth to comment, but I had nothing.

Nyske laughed. “It’s a new type of food. They made it a few hundred years ago. It is slices of bread with delicious food put in between the pieces.”

My mother frowned but nodded. “Then I’ll try this new type of sandwich. If it is anything like the whipped cream, then I can wait. Besides, son, where are these lovely women who are carrying my grandchildren?”

AN - This next chapter is a biggie, but I felt it needed to all go together.